Buddha Bowls with my Bestie

As a little break from revising for my last two prelims I had a brilliant catch up with one of my best friends, Sophie, yesterday (featuring lots of laughs, random conversations and some crazy dancing too!). I experimented a little and make us buddha bowls for lunch - Sophie isn’t vegan and so it was almost like a challenge to see if I could persuade her to enjoy some form of vegan food! These bowls only took 10 minutes to prep before serving in my beautiful coconut bowls. Here’s the recipe if you’re tempted to give them a go…

Ingredients (serves 2):

a head of broccoli

a handful of cherry tomatoes

half a pepper

a small handful of spinach

60g couscous (although this may vary depending on the brand of couscous)

half a cucumber

a teaspoon of sesame seeds

sriracha

Method:

Break the broccoli into small florets. Quarter the cherry tomatoes and chop the pepper into small chunks. Slice the cucumber into semi-circles. Tear the spinach leaves into shreds.

Cook the couscous in a pan of boiling water (quantities of couscous, volumes of water and cooking times may vary so be sure to read the packaging).

Meanwhile, put the broccoli in a microwavable bowl with a couple of tablespoons of water. Seal the bowl (I did this by placing a plate on top upside down) and microwave for about 3 minutes (or until cooked through).

Assemble bowl with prepared ingredients (you can do this however you choose - don’t worry about the appearance too much!).

Drizzle as much (or as little) sriracha as you choose over each bowl, then add a sprinkle of sesame seeds before serving.

As per usual, it’s a really flexible recipe so feel free to mess about with quantities or ingredients however you choose. You could use quinoa instead of couscous, or even opt for bread instead; add chicken or eggs if you’re non-vegan; replace sriracha with ketchup if you’re not a fan of spice (although I personally am the opposite and added a tonne more extra sriracha than what’s in the photos!); and of course you can change any of the veggies you feel like. Buddha bowls are meant to just be a quick and easy way of having a tasty and nutritious meal, so don’t worry about having exact ingredients.

And just for a little laugh, here’s Sophie’s reaction to the beautifully natural appearance of the vegan buddha bowls (she actually enjoyed them too which was a major win for me!)…

Let me know how you get on if you give this recipe a go!

Heather xoxo

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